


More Than Family

by diet_affection



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Canon Compliant, Coming Out, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotions, Family, Family Issues, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Foster Care, Gay Keith (Voltron), Homesick Lance (Voltron), Homesickness, Hugs, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Kissing, Love Confessions, M/M, Mutual Pining, Orphan Keith (Voltron), POV Lance (Voltron), Sad Keith (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-20
Updated: 2018-03-20
Packaged: 2019-04-05 03:58:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14035698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/diet_affection/pseuds/diet_affection
Summary: Lance feels homesick after a rainshower during their last mission, and decides to create a "family wall" where they can hang pictures of their loved ones. He bugs Keith about getting pictures of his family, and finds out that there is a lot he doesn't know about the other boy.





	More Than Family

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first work of fanfiction that I've ever written :o It's angsty and fluffy, and hopefully not terrible. Hope you enjoy!
> 
> /// The story is inspired by a comic I saw on Instagram where the paladins hang pictures of their family on a wall, and Keith's photo is of the other paladins and him. I don't remember the artist, but if you know who made it, please let me know!

Lance had been filled with energy all afternoon. After the rainstorm on their latest mission had plagued him with endless dreams - and the occasional nightmare - about his home on Earth, he had felt _off_. Talking about his family was the only thing that helped, but when Pidge and Hunk had already heard the life story of the McClain’s seven times, even they seemed to tire of it. He had tried to ask about their families, but no one seemed as open about it as he was. Which was weird – as paladins, they needed to be open with each other, and to deal with their feelings together.

And then he had gotten the brilliant idea of setting up a “family wall” in the common room, where they could all hang pictures of the ones they missed; consequently soothing the homesickness they might or might not feel, while also bringing the paladins closer together.

Only now, when the others had mumbled goodnight and left him alone in front of the half-finished display, did he feel the happiness slowly draining out. It was replaced with a somber melancholy that had him unable to move away from the image of his family, caught in memories long past.

The sound of footsteps in the kitchen broke his trance, and he twisted his eyebrows suspiciously. Weren’t they all in bed by now?

The light of the fridge illuminated pale, delicate features and a slightly damp mullet.

“Keith?”

The figure turned, running his fingers through his hair and seeming slightly flustered. He wore a loose shirt and soft, knee-length pants – his sleepwear, Lance realized. He also realized that Keith in comfy clothes and with wet hair, still flushed from a hot shower, was incredibly cute. Luckily, the room was dimly lit and probably hid the color he could feel creeping up his face.

_Stop it. He’s not cute. He’s your hated rival._

The words seemed hollow even in his mind.

“Can’t sleep?”

Keith closed the fridge and walked slowly into the common room, seeming almost shy. He took a tip from his space juice before answering.

“Yeah. I guess.”

His voice was so… soft. Was it always so soft? It was probably to avoid waking the others.

“Keep me company, then.”

The words were past his lips before he thought them through. As they caught up to him, he coughed and burst into an enthusiastic ramble about the genius of his family-wall-display, and how that had been keeping him up the last hours. It definitely broke the strange, soft mood that had been between them – but that was a good thing, right?

"We still need Pidge’s – she promised to send me one as soon as she could find one where Matt wasn’t goofing off – and yours. You have any close by?”, he finished, a bit breathless.

“What?”

“Family pictures. Do you have any with you?”

He was met with silence. Lance swallowed. Had he said anything wrong? While he had been rambling, Keith had looked over the display with a weird look in his eyes, but he had never interrupted or seemed inpatient. Now he was staring at Lance like he was missing something obvious.

“Lance,” he finally said, hesitating. He had put away the juice and was standing with his arms straight down, like he didn’t know how to hold himself. Lance grinned, trying to keep the mood light. In his mind he was panicking. _What am I saying wrong?_

“No need to be shy. We’re all sharing a bit of ourselves here.”

"I don’t have any."

Keith was looking at him like that meant something. He laughed nervously.

"Come on… You’ve gotta have _some_ photos of your family.”

“No, I mean – I don’t have any family.”

That stopped his laughter dead in its tracks. He felt confusion fill his face.

“What?”

“I’m an orphan.”

“What?”, he repeated, but softly this time. Not confused, but simply disbelieving. 

_No family?_

His own family were a part of every memory in his childhood, directly or indirectly. His mother waking him up for school, his father hugging him goodnight each night, his sister crying when he broke his arm, his aunt praising his test results, his uncle cheering for him at a swimming race. They were always there, always around. How would he even survive without that?

_How had Keith survived without that?_

He couldn’t even wrap his head around the loneliness of it. It didn’t make sense to him.

Lance suddenly felt all the pretend happiness leave him, and his legs felt weak as he sank down on the couch and swallowed.

 “Keith, I – I didn’t know that.”

He paused. When he spoke again, his voice sounded thin.

“So you don’t have anyone else? Relatives?”

“No.”

“No adoptive parents? Caretakers?

“I don’t –“

“I’m sure you could hang a picture of your friends back at Earth or something, you know, the people you care about. Doesn’t matter who. Just someone you miss, you know?”

Lance couldn’t stop his mouth from rambling on. He just couldn’t believe it. He couldn’t imagine it. He needed to hear that there had been _someone._ This time, Keith did interrupt him. The anger in his voice made Lance hate himself for pushing on.

“Lance, listen. I’ve never had a family. Or anything like it.  I’ve never even had friends, not really. I’ve never had a boyfriend. I don’t have people like that! There is no one on Earth I want a picture on the wall to remind me of.”

_Oh._

Lance stayed quiet for a bit, processing everything he had just heard.

Then, before Keith had a chance to walk away, he patted the couch beside him.

“Come here.”

“Why?”

There was still a bit of anger in his voice, but it was a frustrated, sad kind of anger. Lance recognized that feeling.

“Just come.”

Slowly, Keith approached the couch, glancing skeptically at him before sitting down beside him. He sat stiffly at the edge of the couch pillow, looking ready to leave. Lance knew he couldn’t let him leave until he had made this right. It’s difficult finding the words to say when your rival and crush admits something personal and painful about themselves, but he had to try. He had brought it up, after all.

Lance took a deep breath and turned to Keith with a determined expression.

 “First of all. That is really sad, and I hope you know that you have all of those things now.”

It came out a bit more forceful than he had intended, but the anger in Keith’s face had shifted to a doubtful expression.

“…I do?”

“Yeah!  We’re like your family, man!”, Lance grinned, hoping the sincerity he felt carried in his voice. Keith was not saying anything, so he continued.

“And we’re obviously your friends!”

“…”

The confusion was changing into amusement, and Keith’s eyebrows kept rising, a smile tugging at his lip. It was like he was waiting for Lance to realize something –

_Ah._

_I’ve never had a boyfriend._

_You have all of those things now._

_Riiiiiight._

“Oh. OH. _That_ part.”, he exclaimed a little too loudly, cringing at the squeak in his voice. _Shit_ , his face was so warm.

“I meant like – the other parts. You know. The friends and family part.”

He was so stupid. But at least Keith was smiling. Mission accomplished, time to run away -

“Second of all?”

Lance opened his mouth and closed it. It had seemed an innocent remark earlier, but right after _that_ blunder, and with his face still burning red…

“Oh, nothing. It’s nothing,” he coughed.

“What.”

“Um. No, it’s just… You’re gay?”

Keith leaned back in the couch pillows, seeming a bit more comfortable but still keeping his arms crossed.

“Yeah. You didn’t know?”

“Um, no? How should I know? It’s not like you exclaim your gayness by flirting with every hot male alien we come across.”

“You mean like you exclaim your straightness by flirting with every hot female alien?”

Keith lifted his eyebrows at him. Acting offended, Lance lifted his arms in shock.

“Dude! I’m not straight.”

“You’re saying you don’t like women? “

The doubt was clear in his voice. Lance laughed - _that_ idea was quite ridiculous.

“No way. I’m bi, man. I’m pretty open about it.”    

Keith nodded, then shrugged.

“It’s not like I consciously try to hide it, or anything. But I also don’t bring attention to it. If people assume I’m straight, that is usually the safest option.”

Lance wrinkled his eyebrows at that. _Safest?_ Keith must have seen his look, for he continued quickly.

“I mean… just to avoid trouble. You know.”

He shook his head.

“I don’t really. My family were always super chill with that kind of thing. I guess it was something they expected – I mean, I was ten when I auditioned for the role as fairy princess in the school play, because I wanted to get my hand kissed by the cutie who was playing the prince.”

Keith smiled at that, flashing him a look that was devoid of mocking and simply filled with a soft amusement. Lance blushed – again.

“Did you get the role?”

“Nah. The whole audition turned into more of a joke – _haha, look, that boy is wearing a dress and flirting with the prince, how_ _hilarious._  It wasn’t exactly the romantic scene I had envisioned.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’ve kissed plenty of princes since then.”

He collapsed backwards into the pillows with a grin. He liked this easy conversation, even though some of the topics that were pushing to the surface were unpleasant. It just felt right to talk about them, to glance at the secret sides of the other in the safety of the night.

“Anyway, back to you – Where’d you grow up?”

Lance wasn’t sure Keith was feeling the same easiness as him, but he answered surprisingly straightforwardly.

“Foster care.”

“Were they nice? Your foster parents?”

He shrugged, running a hand through hair that was starting to dry. It looked soft in the dimness of the room, just like the boy it belonged to. Where did all this _fondness_ welling up inside him come from? Suddenly he was terrified of saying something wrong, of hurting the one who was opening up to him, sitting beside him all vulnerable on a coach late in the night.

“Some of them were okay.”

“You had many?”

“Yeah. I guess I wasn’t the easiest kid to take care of. There was a lot of … trouble.”

Keith cleared his throat, crossing his arms again.

“Like, pranks and stuff?”

“More like fighting. Running away. Doings things they didn’t like.”

“That doesn’t sound like a fun childhood.”

He wouldn’t meet Lance’s eyes when he tried to catch them.

“It’s fine, really.”

“It’s not fine.”

Lance remembered the remark from earlier, and hesitated. How far could he go without bringing up something too personal? It was already about as personal as it gets. But Keith was glancing at him from the corner of his eye, looking like he wanted to talk more. So he asked.

“Did you get in trouble for being gay?”

Keith let out a slow breath and curled together on the couch.

“I… did, yeah.”

Lance waited. After a minute, he continued, voice slow and hoarse. Lance could tell this was a story he hadn’t often spoken out loud.

“The foster family I was with from the age of 12 to 16, they were quite conservative. I knew coming out to them was a stupid idea, so I didn’t.”

“What happened?”

A smile twisted Keith’s lips, but it was joyless. His eyes held old hurt, and anger.

“I confessed to a guy. He turned me down and told his parents. His parents called my foster parents. It was …”

He paused.

“It wasn’t fun.”

Keith was sitting hunched together, with a slight tremble in his shoulders, his hands around his knees. It was a very… defensive pose. Something about it, and the way his eyes kept flinching at the memories that surely were flashing though his mind’s eye, made a horrible thought reveal itself in Lance’s mind. He had trouble forming the words.

“Keith, did they hit you?”

His voice was barely audible, but he knew Keith had heard him from the way he stiffened. For a while, it seemed like the other couldn’t speak, even though he was opening his mouth and wetting his lips.

Then, something broke in him, and the words started flowing out, in a low, hushed voice.

 “It wasn’t too often, but when they did, it was bad. I was so _weak_ back then. I didn’t know how to defend myself. And I didn’t know – that I was allowed to. My foster mother, she used to say that punishment was a way of showing love, like it would make me a better person if they could just beat the mistakes out of me. It’s crazy - for a long time I believed her.”

Lance couldn’t move. He was staring at the other paladin, frozen in shock, each of Keith’s words hitting him like daggers piercing deep into him. Into his core, where the silly anger and jealousy he had been feeling towards his so-called rival was shattering to pieces. What remained was a completely different image of Keith; one where he was curled up with fear, eyes open and vulnerable. An image that it _hurt_ to look at, but it was the reality in front of him right now.

“Lance.”

Blinking, he focused on Keith’s face again. He looked worried, of all things.

“Are you okay?”

Only then did he feel the warm wetness of his face, and looked down to see tears dripping down on his shirt, quickly follow by new ones. He could only shake his head. Nothing was okay. It shouldn’t have been this way. Keith deserved a happy childhood. Everyone did. It should be something everyone could take for granted – like he had, up until now.

Then Keith’s arms were around him, settling on his shoulders and hesitating before pulling him close. Lance wrapped his arms around the other’s waist, burying his face in his shoulder. He struggled to say something through the tightness of his throat.

“It’s so – “

No words came to mind that could possibly describe situation.

“Shitty,” Keith finished for him.

“Yeah,” he sighed back.

“You know the worst thing about it? It kinda ruined physical affection for me. Even when I know someone’s a friend, and that their touch won’t hurt me, I still feel so uncomfortable. I guess that’s why I hate hugs.”

Lance’s breath came out more like a broken sob against his chest.

_Keith._

Then the realization of the situation hit him, and he felt so _stupid_ , pressing up against him when he clearly needed space. With mumbled apologies and shame burning his face, he pulled back from the hug. Only to be stopped by Keith’s arms tightening around his shoulders.

“No, no, wait. Don’t go,” he said in such a small voice that Lance immediately hugged him tighter. Keith sighed lightly and leaned his head heavily on his shoulder. His voice was slightly muffled against Lance’s shirt when he mumbled, “This is different.” His heart jumped, and he swallowed hard. Why was he so lucky that this beautiful boy had chosen _him_ to trust?

“Just let me know?”

“Yeah,” Keith whispered back.

Time passed. He didn’t know how long they sat there, curled up on the couch together, breathing slowly and soaking in each other’s warmth. Lance never pulled away, letting Keith decide when he was ready to end the embrace. A few times he tried to speak, muffled words about how sorry he was, how nothing like that would happen again, they wouldn’t let anyone hurt him – and Keith murmured back, “It’s fine. I’m fine. I’m glad we talked about it.” When he still kept talking, he shushed him and pulled him tighter, effectively drowning his words. “Shut up now. I’m fine.”

Lance stayed quiet for a while, then said, “When we go back to Earth, I want you to meet my family. I have enough to spare. They’ll love you.”

“You sure?”

He sounded hesitant, but… happy. Lance didn’t need to lift his head to know that.

“I’m sure.”

Lance’s cheeks were finally dry. He felt silly when he remembered how _he_ had been the one breaking down when Keith had been the miserable one. A shaky laugh forced its way out of him.

“I should be the one comforting you.”

Keith moved his head deeper into the crook of his neck, hands clutching at the back of his jacket.

“You are.”

“Then I’m doing a shitty job.”

He could feel Keith smile against his neck, and the sensation sent chills down his back. Good chills.

“No. You’re always good at taking care of people. You make them feel comfortable, and safe. You know how to talk to people. You’re important to the team for that, and to me. You know how to talk me down and how to break through my temper. It’s… reassuring. Even when you’re not there, the thought of you calms me down. I love that. It’s everything to me.”

A few seconds went by, then Keith suddenly sucked in a sharp breath, as if realizing at the same time as Lance that what he had just said had sounded an awful lot like a confession. He pulled back slightly, but kept his arms resting on Lance’s shoulders. Lance didn’t move, just sat there wide-eyed and flushed as he waited for Keith to take back his words.

He didn’t. His eyes were huge and dark, looking like black velvet of the night sky. He had an unsure expression on his face, mouth slightly open, a light redness creeping up his neck and ears.

“Lance.”

It was a question, and a confirmation. A plead, and a promise.

They were incredibly close, his face just a thought away. He could feel the warmth of his breath tickling against his own mouth, and his lips parted in response. He was burning up with the want to be even closer, to chase every sad memory away with his mouth.

Their noses brushed against each other. Lance’s eyes fluttered shut, but he kept still, hoping Keith would take that last step, needing him to, but also knowing that _Keith_ had to be the one to do it. That was important.

Then Keith’s mouth was on his, a light press followed by a sigh as his body softened against Lance’s. The other boy was barely moving, just carefully brushing lips against lips, so incredibly _softly_ that it hurt. It was innocent and timid, but still sent waves of prickling warmth down Lance’s body; a heat that gathered in his gut and made his head spin with intoxication.

He gasped as Keith’s tongue lightly slid across his lower lip. His mouth stayed open after that, but Keith seemed hesitant, his tongue cautiously brushing against the tip of Lance’s, and against the corner of his mouth, but never moving further in. Lance let him explore, and held back as Keith got comfortable with the feeling. He was already breathing heavily himself, despite having plenty of room to breathe in between the soft swirls of Keith’s tongue.

A needy sound in the back of the other’s throat made his resolve come undone, and he leaned forward to deepen the kiss with a groan. He was licking into Keith’s mouth, and Keith was melting into him with a deep sigh.

This was really happening. He was kissing Keith.

How many times had the wish drifted across his mind, before the next silly fight had turned the desire into frustration and angry words?

Keith was kissing him back.

Lance was hyperaware of the hands clasped behind his neck, of where Keith’s leg rested over Lance’s knee, and of the hand he had buried deep in the softness of the other’s hair. It was all so close, and it felt safe and warm and _right_. The kiss slowed, became as gentle and soft as it had started out.

When they pulled away to breathe, their foreheads stayed together for a while. Keith’s low chuckle brought them out of the trance of each other’s eyes.

“What?”, Lance said, smiling just from the way he could feel the other’s laughter vibrating though him.

“You call us family, and ten minutes later we’re kissing. That’s weird, man.”

Lance stared at him for a few seconds, then threw his head back laughing as he blushed furiously.

“Keith, you –“

Keith continued to chuckle, pulling him close again until his face was buried in Lance’s neck.

“You’re more than family,” he mumbled.

“Oh,” Lance breathed. He couldn’t cry _again_.

“I’m supposed to be the romantic here, you know?”

“Why don’t you say something romantic then?”, Keith murmured.

“I think I love you,” he whispered into the other’s hair, not able to stop himself. For a second he feared it had been too much, too fast – just because _he_ had been thinking about this forever, didn’t mean Keith was ready – but then he was pulled into an even tighter embrace, like he needed to make up for all the hugs he had missed out on.

“ _Lance_ ,” he croaked. And then, softly, “I love you, too.”

 

A week later, the empty common room was filled with the lingering warm, orange glow of a nearby sun passing by. Long shadows stretched across the room, moving slowly over the messy table, the half-finished muffin maker machine Pidge and Hunk had been working on, the mugs with silly nicknames for each paladin, and the screen on the wall that glowed faintly in the dimness of the room. On the screen were pictures of each paladin and their family – Hunk with his parents who looked just like him, Pidge with a grimacing Matt and their parents laughing, Shiro with his arm around his mother, and Lance in the middle of a small crowd of grinning people.

The last picture was of all five paladins, Allura and Coran flanking then. The warmth and togetherness they were radiating was as strong as the other pictures. If you looked closely, behind the broad arm of the biggest paladin and the smiling face of the smallest, you would see that the two paladins in the back were holding hands. And while the others were all smiling towards the camera, they only had eyes for each other.

**Author's Note:**

> I appreciate all feedback! Thank you for reading <3
> 
> //Edit: I made a tumblr, called [keith-in-shibari](https://keith-in-shibari.tumblr.com/)
> 
> I’ll be posting about updates and stuff there, as well as my nsfw art and mini fics. Check it out if you’re interested!


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